Friday, June 10, 2016

The Senate may take steps to end a Justice Department slush fund that has channeled millions of dollars in banking settlements to outside organizations, including left-wing groups such as La Raza and NeighborWorks America.

Four Republican senators—James Lankford of Oklahoma, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Utah’s Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee—said they would introduce legislation Friday to prohibit federal settlement agreements that require donations to third parties.

The Justice Department currently allows corporations found guilty of wrongdoing to pay a portion of their financial penalty as a donation to certain preapproved nonprofit groups.

“In 2011, the Department of Justice directed $30 million from a banking settlement to go toward left-leaning nonprofit groups,” Lankford’s office wrote in a press release, “like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition and....